


Rise and Shine

by tinkerballsdeep



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Death, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-05 03:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6687523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinkerballsdeep/pseuds/tinkerballsdeep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Max wakes up in a strange place with a familiar stranger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Max

Max felt something rousing her from her sleep. Something foreign to her. It wasn't her phone alarm buzzing against her nightstand. It wasn't the tantalising smell of Joyce's cooking. It wasn't even Chloe shaking her awake; it was a voice. 

"Rise and shine!" the voice was chipper but husky, as if the speaker themself had just woken up too, and in a ridiculously good mood. The voice was soft but persuasive and Max found herself slowly blinking her eyes open, blurry vision focusing in on two unfamiliar hazel eyes. No. Not unfamiliar. Max's eyes moved to the blue feather earring hanging at their ear. 

Rachel Amber. 

Max's eyes widened and she shot up, then held her head as a feeling of dizziness shook her brain. Max raised her arm to cover her eyes and groaned. Why was it so fucking bright here? 

"Woah there! Just take it easy, ok Max?" Rachel's voice is laced with amusement and concern, her hand falling onto Max's other arm, taking her back to reality. Or unreality. Or whatever. Max assumed she must still be dreaming. 

"Where are we?" Max croaked out, suddenly realizing how thirsty she was. 

Rachel grinned. "We're on a beach silly." 

And she was right. Max reached down to her side and her hand sunk into golden sand. She looked out to the sea, slowly weaving in and out from the shore.

She closed her eyes and breathed in. Something was off. "Why can't I hear the waves?"

Rachel chewed her lip. "I dunno..." Her eyes shifted away from Max and she tucked her head into her knees drawing small stars into the sand. "It just happens here sometimes." 

Max leaned forward, trying to meet Rachel's eyes. "Rachel," she began, "where are we, really?"

Rachel huffed and pointed to the sky, then gestured wildly around her, "Where does it look like? Paradise? Purgatory? The 'afterlife'? I don't know! All I know is I'm stuck here. Just like in Arcadia Bay. When I was alive. Old habits die hard, I guess." she worried her earring between her fingers and laughed bitterly. "And now you're here."

"Wait wait wait... How can I be here? When did I- what happened?" A million questions sat on the tip of Max's tongue, seconds away from tumbling out. 

Rachel shrugged "I don't know. One minute I was alone like always and the next minute you were asleep here." 

Max closed her eyes. She remembered a storm, a terrible storm. The tornado! She remembered standing by the lighthouse. Somebody was gripping her hand.

"Chloe!" 

"She's not here, Max," Rachel said, "and despite what you might be thinking, yes, that is actually a good thing." 

"How do you know who I am?" 

Rachel chuckled. "How can I not know who you are? Every five minutes Chloe would be talking about you. Mostly bitching." 

Right. Of course she would. "Oh." Max mumbled, digging her toes into the sand. 

Rachel knocked her shoulder lightly "Hey it wasn't all bad stuff! Besides I'm sure she had a lot to say about me too." 

Max snorted. "Only that you were her angel, that you were mega-cool, mega-hot and ultra-popular." 

Rachel nodded appraisingly and hummed "All true." then she began drawing in the sand again, this time with swirls. "But you know she always talked about how talented you were too. 'She's going to be a famous photographer one day and you'll be modelling for her. And I'll be your totally buff and hella hot bodyguard!' she'd tell me." 

They both share a laugh "Sounds like our Chloe all right!" Max looks up at the sky again. It was so unreal - blues and pinks blended into each other creating a light purple hue to hang over them. "This place is beautiful." The clouds seemed to shift and bend before their eyes. "That cloud looks like a bunny" She pointed to it. 

Rachel followed her fingers and squinted, tilting her head to the side. "I think it looks more like a duck sitting on a nest" And sure enough when Max looked again, that is exactly what it looked like. 

"Wowser."

Rachel snorted, "Wowser? You're such a dork." She prodded Max lightly and said, "It's adorable."

Max blushed furiously. 

Spending an eternity here with Rachel didn't seem too bad.


	2. Chloe

Chloe hated hospitals. 

She'd never had a "good" experience with them.  
Not when she was 2 and found a very interesting, very tasty looking bottle of washing up liquid under the sink and drank half the bottle only to find it tasted totally gross. She blew bubbles out with her mouth, all foamy and soapy. William had found her hugging the bottle, some residue soap on her cheek and had immediately taken her to the hospital. She doesn't remember the trip at all. All she can recall is her parents panicked looks and doctors poking and prodding at her and Chloe not being allowed near any cupboards for years after. 

Not when she broke her elbow when she was 11, trying to grind down that rail because some older skater-guys had dared her to. She slipped off and smashed the joint on the concrete steps, her elbow bending forcefully and snapping. She didn't even feel it at first, it just felt like a hard bump, like she'd hit her funny bone. But then she heard the guys screaming and shouting "Shit!" and "Are you okay?" and "Somebody call an ambulance." and she looked at her arm. She didn't scream when she saw it. Didn't cry. Just stared at her elbow, bent in a way it shouldn't be. She doesn't remember much after that. She was driven to the hospital, with Joyce and William scolding her for being so careless but still fussed over her. The doctors spoke to her parents in hushed whispers and low tones that Chloe couldn't make out and it frustrated her. She was in a cast for the rest of summer vacation.

Not when she was 13 and her Dad was driven to intensive care, Chloe sitting outside the operating room and hearing the doctors rush about trying to save a life that wasn't there any more. Her Mom held her close as Chloe wept into her shoulder, shushing and calming her and stroking her hair. Chloe knew that Joyce was crying too.

Not even when Max had insisted on visiting Kate Marsh. Not that she'd actually had much to insist on. Chloe still felt like a total asshole for being selfish and not wanting Max to take that call. Which she did. And thank God or whatever higher power for that. She'd waited outside, not unlike her last visit to the hospital, and even though it was for a good reason, she couldn't shake the feeling of guilt that settled in her chest whenever she thought about Kate - she'd seen the newspapers, you couldn't escape them, with pictures of Kate on that roof, and then of Max guiding her out of the dorms like a goddamn hero. 

She especially didn't like them now. The room was too bright, too clinical. It made Chloe itch. The air in the room was heavy with the smell of floor cleaner and other chemicals. She looked over at the flowers and notes that had been left in the room. Most of them from the Blackwell kids or Joyce or people she didn't know too well. Warren had brought in a ton of giant stuffed animals and balloons, all thrown into the corner of the room. Kate had left some lovely flowers -iris flowers- all bunched in a neat bouquet and set by the window.  
On the table were some other gifts: a heartfelt card from Dana and Trevor, a personalised drawing from Daniel, a postcard from Juliet and even a note from Taylor. Chloe had sorted most of the other gifts into piles; the cards in one, flowers in another. There were lots of flowers. There were of course Kate's irises which sat by the window, Taylor's azaleas, Brooke's carnations -slightly wilted- and Alyssa's white hyacinths (Chloe is certain Alyssa looked at an article for the languages of flowers for that one) and they all sat on the end table by the bed. 

The monitor beside her whirred and hummed, the heart monitor keeping a slow and steady pace. Beep. Pause. Beep. Pause. Rinse and repeat like clockwork. No change. She thought she saw the heart monitor speed up at one point but convinced herself it must just be her imagination. 

Her phone buzzed in her pocket but she didn't bother looking at it. She knew what it'd be. Even more messages from people who didn't give a fuck about her until it was convenient for them to. When they could write about themselves and how they've been helping their "BFF" Chloe Price out of her slump. Her Aunt Dorothy jumped right on board, writing one of those long-ass paragraphs full of self-gratification and pity directed at Chloe, but of course making it all about herself, then ending it with 'if you ever need to talk, you know I'm here xx'. Chloe had promptly untagged herself from that post. She'd muted most of the conversations with her friends. She didn't want their messages of pity.

Or worse. Messages about Max. 

Chloe swallowed thickly, remembering the bright, blinding light surrounding Max as she faced the storm, arm extended like she was reaching out to something, pulling at it and watching it unravel. And then she remembered feeling the harsh, whipping winds and the rain subside. The sun didn't come out. There were no blue skies or rainbows or anything. But Max had done it. She'd stopped the storm. 

And Chloe was still alive. She still didn't feel like she deserved it. 

Max didn't save everyone. Stella Hill had been missing for a few days, presumed dead, Logan from the Vortex Club was hit by a car trying to escape the Bay; they'd also found the body of Nathan Prescott in his dorm room and Victoria Chase had been missing since the night before the storm. Chloe didn't have a lot to say or feel about the last two. 

And, of course, she couldn't save Rachel. 

Her hand instinctively went to fiddle with her bullet necklace. "You said you'd never leave me." Tears formed in her eyes and she brushed them off with the sleeve of her jacket. She was so sick of crying. "I don't want to be alone again." She took in a shaky breath, "So you better not give up on me, ok?"

**Author's Note:**

> this will be multi-chapter! don't worry guys i haven't forgotten about chloe or kate or anyone else. everything will be explained later on


End file.
